Daughter of Serenity
by Evelyn-Sunshine
Summary: She's a very special little girl. This isn't one full story, they're mostly seperate little vingettes.
1. Enter: Meadow

Disclaimer: I don't own them, only the little girl.

Spoilers: Serenity, eventually, sort of.

--->

She has four mothers, and she has the best qualities of each of them.

Inara's grace, Zoë's steel, Kaylee's love, and River's brilliance.

She also seems to look like each one of them. Passers-by could assume the Companion was strolling with her own impeccably dressed little girl and just as easily guess that the Mechanic was showing her daughter how to rebuild an engine.

Serenity's only little girl has all of her uncles wrapped around her little finger, but she has more mothers than uncles, and they refuse to let their only little girl be spoiled by easily duped men. They are keen to keep their perfect daughter perfect.

Their job may be a bit tougher than they first realized.

Meadow Jayne Tam is horribly independent.

---->

Author's note: NOT a Rayne fic. I actually have a story about how Meadow got her middle name, if there's any interest.


	2. Shock

Regan Tam had never been an involved parent, but she had loved her children. They had never had much of a need for her, but she hadn't minded. It left her free to attend social events without the guilt that she suspected she would have felt if Simon and River had been more attached to her. Disowning Simon when he'd kidnapped River had been hard, but Gabriel had assured her it was for the best. But even so, and especially since the Miranda Incident a few years earlier, she wondered over their fates. Simon was no longer wanted, and River's name was never put out, but there was no retraction of the warrant as there had been with Simon. The whole incident had damaged her nerves beyond reasonable repair.

She had gone to one of the so-called "Spa-Planets" midway between the Core and the Rim for a rest. She was shopping for nothing particular when she noticed a little girl of about five with her mother. The woman was breathtakingly beautiful, and the girl was dressed up just a stylishly as her mother.

The girl turned and danced along side her mother, and for a moment, Regan thought she was watching River as a little girl. Of course, she would never have let her daughter behave that way in public, but the lovely woman actually seemed pleased with the display.

"Can I be a Companion like you?" the girl inquired, her tone belonging to a much older child. It was so much like River used to be.

The woman laughed, and pulled her a little closer. "Now, who put that idea into your head?" she demanded lightly.

"You did," she said simply.

"_Me_?" the Companion laughed incredulously. "What would I have _ever _said to make you think that, my darling Miss Tam?"

Her head shot up is disbelief. _Tam? Dear God, Simon married a Companion!_

"It's not what you say, it's how you are," the little girl corrected. "You're terribly elegant, and you have so many pretty things and you know simply everyone. If I were a Companion, I could know all the things you know."

"Bao-bei," she chastised slightly. "You don't need to be a Companion to know things. You're already smarter than I am."

The child nodded sagely. "That's true. I am." Feigning anger, the Companion tickled her in punishment and the girl hugged her around the waist. "I want to be just like you, Auntie Nara."

Regan instantly relaxed. Simon hadn't married a Companion. But what was he doing that his daughter was so close with a high-class Companion as this?

Inara gave her a suspicious look. "Last week you wanted to be just like Kaylee."

"She wants to be just like you, too! You're sophisticated and beautiful."

Kneeling down in front of the child, Inara gently pushed a few stray hairs back into place. "_You _little Meadow, are perfectly lovely yourself. It would be no trick for me to teach you how to be as _terribly elegant _as I am," she said, causing the girl to giggle. "And you are just like your mother, so we know that none of your beauty or intelligence will fade with age."

"Do you think Mama will show me that new dance today?" She sighed deeply. "I acted out horribly yesterday. Uncle Simon was still upset with me this morning."

"Bao-bei, I think there is very little you could do that would keep your mother from dancing with you," Inara said sincerely.

Barely keeping herself from fainting, Regan quickly found a bench to rest on. Simon hadn't had a child, but who's to say he _hadn't_ married a Companion? _River _had had a child! She was barely more than a child herself! Regan could feel her nerves snapping into little pieces as the little girl looked over at her in concern.

>>>>

Meadow had noticed the older lady watching them for a while. She tugged on Inara's hand and pulled her over to where the woman had partially collapsed onto a bench. "Are you alright?" she inquired, climbing up onto the bench with her.

"I'll get you some water," Inara said, not liking how pale the woman's face was.

Patting the woman's hand sympathetically, Meadow wisely said, "You should be more careful with yourself if you're sick. You don't look very sick, but Uncle Mal says that many people come here when they're mentally unwell. Well, he doesn't say it that way," she amended, "but it's what he means."

The woman could help smiling and Meadow smiled in return. Inara returned with a cup of water and the woman nodded her thanks. "This is very kind of you."

"Oh, it's no trouble at all," Inara assured her. "Would you like us to help you get some place a bit quieter?"

She shook her head. "Oh, no. I've just received a bit of a shock. I'll be fine in a few minutes."

>>>>

"Do you think she'll be alright?" Meadow asked as they made their way out of the shopping center.

Inara squeezed her hand and smiled down at her. "With you as her doctor? There's no doubt."

"There's no need to patronize me, Auntie Nara. I was just trying to guilt you into buying me ice cream before dinner," Meadow said seriously causing Inara to laugh.


	3. Babies

Meadow sighed as she climbed up onto the couch where Kaylee was resting. Very pregnant and unusually grumpy, Kaylee had nothing but smiles and kisses for her precious little niece. "What's wrong with the 'verse today?"

"I don't think men really know where babies come from," she said, gently petting her aunt's belly.

Kaylee laughed. "Wha'd you go an' ask any a' _them _for?"

"Mama told me to."

"Your mama knows full-well where babies come from. She not tellin' ya?"

"Oh, she told me," Meadow said, lounging back against the pillows. "Then she said, 'Now, for comparative analysis, go ask your uncles.' I asked Uncle Jayne first."

Rolling her eyes in anticipatory anger, she demanded, "Wha'd Jayne tell you?"

"Oh, he's the only one who answered me sensibly," the child informed her, instantly sticking up for her gruff playmate. "He said, 'I could tell ya right well the how of it, but I ain't sure a' the particulars, so go ask someone else.'" It never failed to amuse Kaylee how well the little girl mimicked all of their speech patterns. It was just one of a hundred traits she'd inherited from River. "Uncle Mal turned a funny color of red and then said something about a stork, but that's highly improbable as birds can't fly in space. He really should know that."

"Very true," Kaylee said, already smiling at what Meadow was sure to tell her next. "And what did Uncle Simon say?"

Meadow giggled. "He got very proper and started stuttering, and he said 'When two people… well, when they're in love- or sometimes not- they…' Then he swore, and I giggled so he sent me to my room."

"Oh, that weren't very fair," Kaylee said, hugging her just a little bit closer and petting her soft curls because of the injustice she'd faced that morning. "'S kinda funny though."

"Uncle Simon sends me to my room all the time, but Mama says to ignore him because it's always his fault." She sighed again and snuggled into her aunt's side. "Can I stay here with you until the baby comes, Auntie Kaylee?"

For a moment, Kaylee's had paused in it's movement and she tilted her head to get a better look at her niece's face. For all that she talked like an adult, Meadow was still only four and a half and the day was fast approaching when she would no longer be the only child aboard Serenity. Kaylee brushed the black curls out of her face and gently inquired, "Bao-bei, y'ain't worried we're like to forget ya after the baby comes, are ya?"

"No," she said, in dull tone that Kaylee wasn't about to believe. And Meadow was an acomplished liar, which just went to prove how upset she was.

"Well, now ye're just lyin,'" she chastised. "We're all gonna love ya just the same, I promise. I might be busier with 'im, but that just means you'll have to spend more time with Auntie Nara and Aunt Zoe and your mama." Meadow shrugged and wrapped her arms as far around her aunt as they would go. "Cap'n an' Jayne'll prob'ly like ya _more _'cause ya don't scream an' cry no more."

"Really? They'll like me more?" she asked, instantly perking up.

"You plannin' on not likin' your new little cousin?" Kaylee chastised, tickling her to prove she didn't really mean it.

Giggling, Meadow said, "No! But what if he doesn't like me?"

"Now, who _wouldn't _adore you?" Kaylee demanded, pulling her down into a hug.


	4. Runaway

Unlike most six year olds, Meadow was taken very seriously when she threatened to runaway. After all, with who her mother was, there was no doubt that she could fly one of the shuttles if she wanted to. Zoe's reconfiguring the start-up sequence would only slow her down for so long.

Zoe watched her silently for a few minutes before making her presence known. Meadow had packed her favorite dress and some protein into an old medical bag Simon had given her to play with, her teddy bear was sitting on the consul along with a toy dinosaur.

Kneeling down so they'd be near eye-level, Zoe turned to chair to make the girl face her. They sat in silence for a while, then Meadow launched herself into Zoe's arms. "You did good today, kid," Zoe assured her.

"I was so scared," she whispered.

"I know."

She trembled slightly as she said, "You were scared too. You're never scared."

"Now, that ain't true at all," she said firmly. "We just usually make you hide faster when Reavers are around."

"Mama got hurt."

"Simon patched her up. She'll be just fine." She pushed Meadow away so she could look her straight in the eye. "You remember what I told you about your mother and the Reavers on Mr. Universe's moon?" She nodded, her eyes huge. "As hurt as she was today, your mother would kill ten times that many Reavers to protect you. And then she'd tell you to finish your vegetables, dong ma?"

Meadow nodded and hugged Zoe again. "I won't run away this time," she promised.

"I didn't think you would," Zoe said lightly. "You're a lot tougher than the men on this boat give you credit for."

"Well, they're only men," she said dismissively.


	5. Arguments

Their shouting was echoing to make the fight ten times louder then it already was. The entire crew hurried to the hold only to find the most unlike pair shouting at each other. River Tam was having a show-down of sorts with her three year old daughter.

Having heard her full name for the first time in months, Meadow Jayne Tam suddenly became very offended over her mother's choice in her middle name.

"You gave me a boy's name."

"I did _not_ give you a boy's name."

"You named me after Jayne!"

River looked incredulously down at her daughter. "You _like_ Jayne."

"Not the issue! Jayne's a boy's name- you gave me a boy's name."

"Jayne is _not _a boy's name- Jayne is a _girl's _name."

"Well, Jayne's not a girl!" Meadow snapped back, causing the observing Jayne and Simon to smile. They recalled having heard that somewhere before. "If he's not a girl, he can't have a girl's name. I don't know any girl's named Jayne! You gave me a boy's name!"

River stared at her daughter for a moment then exclaimed, "You know _seven _people!"

"I know _of _more then seven people, and not one of them is a _girl _named _Jayne_!"

Up on the walkways, Kaylee was failing miserably at not snickering while everyone else valiant tried not to smile so broadly. It was a difficult thing to argue with a genius child, especially when she said, "I think you named me after Jayne because you hate me!"

"Well, I'm starting to!" River agreed.

They continued yelling, and Kaylee briefly looked toward Simon. "Ya think we should break this up?"

He shook his head in amazement. "I really don't know. This is so bizarre…"

"You know," Inara remarked, "I think this is the most amusing thing we've seen in months."

"Yeah, leave it to little Mea to think Jayne's a boy's name," Mal remarked, receiving a brief glare from Jayne who was just as amused at the scene as the rest of them.

"She's very literal," Zoe remarked.

"So was River at that age," Simon replied. "She mostly grew out of it."

"We really should stop this," Inara said seriously.

Nodding, Mal concurred, "Yeah… could get out of hand we let it go."

They watched River argue with her daughter for another ten minutes before going down to stop their shouting.


	6. Precautions

"_Wo de tian, a_!" Mal exclaimed as he nearly ran into Meadow. "Girl, what did I tell you about walkin' around after a shower?" he demanded.

The sixteen year old pretended to think then said, "Oh, the towel should be on my head because my hair drips and someone's liable to fall and die, and it would be my responsibility to clean it up."

He glared at her and said, "You shoulda been beaten more as a youngin."

She shrugged and continued past him into the infirmary. River was waiting for her, a syringe prepared and waiting. "You took a long shower on purpose," she accused her daughter.

"I did not. Uncle Mal stopped me to yell at me," she said, turning so her back was to her mother. "I _told_ you I should have gotten dressed first."

As casually as anything, River pulled up the bottom of the towel and stuck the needle into Meadow's backside. "No point in that. Easier this way."

Mal watched them in a mixture of surprise and horror. "Albatross, you givin' meds now?"

She laughed and said, "Oh, God no. It's birth-control. I was a young mother of my own choosing, but I will be a young grandmother _chu fei wo si le_. The issue makes Simon uncomfortable, so I do it myself."

His eyes closing in pain, Mal muttered, "Yeah, he's not the only one."

"Well, at least she _asks _me now instead of just sneaking up on me," Meadow said, giving her mother a dark look. "I was reading and you came up and just jabbed me in the _pigu_-"

"Would you stop complaining about that? That was two years ago!" River said tiredly.

They both looked up when Mal made an odd noise. Meadow moved closer, looking at his face very carefully. "Are you alright, Uncle Mal? You look really pale."

River sighed and moved her daughter out of his line of sight. "Go lie down before you faint," she instructed.

"He looks like he's having a heart attack," Meadow said casually.

"Oh, his heart is fine," River said indifferently. "He just needs to grow up and realize you're a _jian huo_ like Kaylee used to be."

"I am not a _jian huo_!" Meadow protested as her mother pushed her away from the infirmary toward their room.

>>>

Chinese:

_Wo de tian, a: _Dear God in heaven

_chu fei wo si le_: over my dead body

_pigu_: bottom

_jian huo_: cheap flouzy

Author's note: I'm upping the rating just to be safe. A couple stories might be a little more mature but not too much.


	7. Conception

"Has anyone seen River?" Simon inquired one morning. "I can't find her."

"And that's differ'nt how?" Jayne muttered.

"We're docked- you don't think she would have gone off the ship?" he asked worriedly.

Kaylee patted his arm sympathetically then said, "Oh, sweetie… yeah, she did."

"_What_?"

"I saw her last night on my way back in from town," she said with a bit of a shrug. "I thought she was with Nara."

They all looked at the semi-retired Companion who instantly shook her head. "Certainly not. I haven't seen her since yesterday afternoon." Mal was about to demand who else knew where River might be when the girl in question suddenly appeared.

"River! Where have you been?" Simon demanded as River casually strolled into the kitchen.

"Completing the act of physical congress that the particular specimen that would result in the fertilization of an ovum."

The reaction to River's nonchalant statement was separated into two distinct groups. Mal, Kaylee, and Jayne nodded and continued eating their breakfast, while Simon, Inara, and Zoe stared at her for a moment before practically shouting, "WHAT?"

"I was getting myself knocked up," she clarified herself in a rather obnoxious manner. "It took much longer then I first thought." Kaylee nearly choked on her tea, Jayne grinned, and Simon and Mal both looked like they wished their heads would explode. She doesn't bother to explain she meant finding a suitable partner, it's more amusing this way. Anyway, Zoe and Inara understood her meaning.

----

Simon was doing his best to avoid River, but his little sister wouldn't have it. She waited until he was in the infirmary before she snuck up on him. "Not allowed to stop it," she said, causing him to jump. "She wants this."

He turned around and shook his head in a mixture of anger and confusion. "River, you aren't even eighteen, and with everything they did to you-"

"She can take care of a baby," she said firmly. "More good days now- you said so. Less crazy." Simon could hardly deny he had said that. In the three months since Miranda, River had had two only two episodes. "I _want this_, Simon," she stressed, a sort of desperation in her voice.

"You can't possibly know that," he muttered, turning back to his neatening.

She rolled her eyes and said, "She's already seen it- flashes and flashes since Miranda, happy, beautiful, but they started to go away. She couldn't let them." Simon looked up and gave her an odd look. "You get Kaylee," she said gently, her hands moving to cover her still flat belly, "I get this."

"River," he sighed, but looking at her, he knew he couldn't protest anymore. He decided to respond logically. "No can't possibly know you're pregnant from last night."

She made a face and leaned against the doorframe. "Better be," she muttered. "It certainly took long enough." Simon made a choking sound and River laughed, "To _find _him! Baby wouldn't happen without right donor." Simon relaxed just a tiny bit and River watched him worriedly. "You have to love her, Simon," she said quietly. "You just have to."

He looked up in surprise and moved to hug his sister. "Of _course _I love you, mei-mei," he said sincerely. "There isn't a thing you could do that would make me stop loving you."

Hugging him back, River said with a smile, "I didn't mean _me_, you dummy."


	8. Stories

"_River_!" Simon bellowed. His unusually loud tone brought not only his sister but the entire crew to the second shuttle that Meadow had adopted as a play room.

The sight before them was one that they had only seen once or twice before- Simon was visibly furious. Making him look even angrier in comparison, Meadow stood at his side, looking as sweet as punch and more angelic than any three year old had a right to look.

There was a look of mild amusement on her face when River asked, "What is it?"

"_What_ have you been telling your child?" he demanded.

River almost laughed, which further enraged Simon. "You mean her bedtime stories?"

He nodded and held up Meadow's teddy bear. "Meadow, what's your bear's name?" he asked.

"Salome," she answered.

"And what's behind your back?"

Meadow looked down at the ground and made circles with her toe. "John the Baptist," she said sweetly.

"Would you show us John the Baptist, _bao-bei_?" Meadow looked up at her uncle for a moment, then produced the toy from behind her back.

The snorting of poorly stifled laughter was only shocking because it came from Inara. In her hands, Meadow held the severed head of one of her rag dolls. Pinned to the face was a grotesque, crayoned death mask, and a few strips of red paper around the gaping neck hole served to represent dripping blood.

Her expression irritatingly calm, River demanded, "You have a problem with Meadow hearing Bible stories?"

"What book did your mother read that story from?" Simon inquired in reply.

"The Preacher-man's Book of Lies," she responded, cradling her toy head in her arms. "I didn't have enough animal toys to play Noah's Ark."

Simon lifted his niece up off the floor and carried her out of the shuttle. "You're not allowed to tell her anymore bedtime stories," he informed his sister.

"Uncle Simon, can I keep John the Baptist?"

He sighed, "Don't you think he'd be happier with a body?"

She shook her head. "He finds it quite liberating this way."

"Will you _at least_ get rid of the dripping blood?" he pressed as everyone in the shuttle burst out laughing.

>>>>>

Author's note: Salome demanded the head of John the Baptist and got it. For some reason, this story came to me at work today.


	9. Nonsense

For the past few days, the women seemed to be bending over backwards to make sure that Meadow knew she was loved amidst all the baby nonsense. Shows and shopping with Inara, dancing with River, cuddling and playing with Kaylee, and… whatever the hell it was she did with Zoe.

In Jayne's opinion, it was codswallop. _New baby ain't a reason t'spoil a' already rotten little girl_, he thought as he walkedthough the shipone afternoon when Serenity was docked. _Ifn I'd acted tha' way when Matty were born, Ma'd a cuffed me n' tha'd been that._

Meadow was still dressed up from one of her outings with Inara when Jayne walked into the kitchen to find her sitting on her knees in the middle of the table, hunched over a large piece of paper.

"What ye doin,' Squeaker?" he grumbled. It was a moment before she answered, but when she did, she jumped to her feet and held out the paper. It was so wide, she had to hold it from the top to display the entire scene. "Don't jump 'roun' like 'at ona table," he scolded as he took the paper from her hands.

"I drew you a picture, Uncle Jayne," she said proudly, completely ignoring his reprimand. "Auntie Nara took me to see _Hamlet_ and this is the part where everyone dies at the end," she said with a little too much enthusiasm, bouncing slightly as she talked. She moved to the edge of the table so she could point out everything. "See, this is Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, that's his mother who drank poison meant for Hamlet, and Claudius who killed Hamlet's father so _he_ could be the king, and that's Prince Fortinbras who comes after everyone's already dead and takes the Danish throne."

"Very exciting,'" Jayne said, highly impressed in the way the girl had captured all of the violence and bloodshed. He looked down at her feet and noticed she was not only in shoes, but her toes were well over the edge of the table. "Now, wha'd I tell ye 'bout standin' on th'table?" he demanded as he lifted her up and deposited her on the floor.

"That if I fall and die you aren't going to bothered with being sad because you warned me so many times, it's my own fault for being so _jing-chang meiyong-de_," she said, pouting just enough to appear pathetic.

He frowned and tapped a knuckle on the top of her head. "None a' that," he warned. "Ain't like t'work on me."

She smiled sweetly, twisting back and forth a little. "Because you were the first one to meet me proper?"

He nodded. "Damn straight."

Giving him a reproachful look, Meadow said, "You aren't supposed to swear in front of me, Uncle Jayne. Auntie Kaylee will be quite upset."

"Simon swears fronta ye more'n I do," he complained.

"Auntie Nara bought me a book with lots of detailed pictures," she abruptly changed the subject. "May I read it to you? I'll do all the voices, but there are some animals, so you'll have to do the growling." With an annoyed look, Jayne agreed and Meadow pulled her book off the table and carried it to the lounge, clearly expecting Jayne to follow. She crawled up onto the couch and when she opened the book up on her lap, it was nearly as big as she was.

He plopped down next to her and looked at the book suspiciously. "These ain't really some them princess stories?" he asked.

Meadow looked up at him and gave him an incredulous look that came straight from her mother. She turned back to the first beautifully illustrated page and primly read, "_The Murders in the Rue Morgue_…"

>>>>

She's reading the Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe, and in the future, they have a fully illustrated version.

_jing-chang meiyong-de_: completely useless


	10. Catch

It was a bad day for River Tam. Her throat was sore from yelling and everything was fuzzy. Her room was suffocating her, but she couldn't move to leave it.

"I gotta look _where_?" Jayne shouted into the radio.

"_Oh, I just _like _telling you to do it!_" Simon shouted in return. "_Would you just look and see if the _tian sha de _baby is crowing_?"

It was a bad day for Jayne Cobb, too. Stuck on Serenity with the girl who wasn't supposed to be in labor for another couple of weeks wasn't his idea of a good day spent. This was certainly not what he'd had in mind a couple hours earlier when he'd thought about getting some trim. But Simon had needed to buy supplies himself- things for the delivery, no less- and everyone else had things that they had to do themselves… whoring just wasn't a priority with some people.

"Yeah," he grumbled into the radio. "It is."

Simon swore again and Jayne found himself impressed by the up-tight doctor's vocabulary. "_We're not going to be back in time. Jayne, tell River to push and be ready to catch the baby_."

At that moment, River screamed again and knocked the radio out of Jayne's hand. "_Ni ta ma de tian-xia suo-you de ren dou gai si_!" she screeched. "_Jayne Cobb, just catch my gorram baby_!"

River was more than a little terrifying at that volume, and Jayne had no problem admitting it. He turned back to do as he was ordered and very shortly afterward, he was holding the tiniest person he had ever seen.

The instant she was delivered of the baby, River feel limply back against her pillow, and for a second, Jayne thought she was dead. But she opened her eyes and said, "Cut the umbilical cord or she won't start breathing."

Jayne tied it off and cut the cord with the knife strapped to his ankle. River was instructing him on the proper way of cleaning off the baby when she pitched forward again, clearly in pain but not shouting.

"That's the placenta- it's perfectly normal," Simon said, running in, Kaylee and the rest of the crew on his heels. Aborsbed with being a doctor, he quickly checked his sister over, then smiled and kissed her on the forehead. "Good work, _mei-mei_." Kaylee and Inara took the baby from Jayne to clean her properly, and then Simon did something wholly unexpected. He shook Jayne's hand and said, "Thank you, Jayne. Thank you for being here for River."

He shifted rather uncomfortably at the sincerity on Simon's face and muttered, "Weren't nuthin.'"

Rather uncomfortable with sight of a nearly-naked River, Mal stood uncomfortably in the doorway, looking up at the ceiling. "So, lil' Albatross, you gonna finally tell us this girl's name, or we stickin' with _nian qing-de_?"

The world was much better now. River nodded and smiled tiredly as Inara placed the clean and tightly wrapped baby in her arms and Kaylee tucked a blanket around her to keep the Captain from being so twitchy. She was so new, and so quiet. "Meadow Jayne Tam." She looked slyly up and Jayne and said, "See? Jayne's a girl's name."

>>>>

_tian sha de _: goddamned

_Ni ta ma de tian-xia suo-you de ren dou gai si:_ Fuck everyone in the universe to death

_nian qing-de:_ young one


	11. Named

Kaylee was beyond pleased that Meadow was so taken with her new little cousin. Since Simon had allowed her into the room, she's been sitting beside the bassinet, her chin resting her in hands, her eyes glued on the tiny sleeping face.

It warmed her already bubbly heart.

"Hens," River muttered disdainfully as she slipped into the room. She smiled and scooped up the baby before sitting down next to her daughter so they could scrutinize the newest Tam together.

And then came the dreaded question, "So, what're you gonna call 'im?"

It was a simple enough question, and it had a simple enough answer, but as Kaylee and Simon looked at each other in their full bunk, neither of them knew how to say it.

"You must know what you want to call him," Inara said in surprise. As with River before Meadow was born, Kaylee and Simon had been decidedly silent on what they were going to call their offspring. Of course, no one could really figure out why, seeing as the couple didn't psychically know if they were to divulge the name of the baby it would cause a ripple that would disturb who the birth would come about in the first place.

Annoyed with their silence, Meadow tore her eyes away from the baby and leaned her head all the way back and to the side to look at Zoe. "They want to name the baby Washburn but they think you'll be upset."

"Couple of hens," River added, shedding light on the phrase she'd been muttering repeatedly for months. "Horrible, chickeny cowards. Four months want to name the baby after Wash and can't ask Zoe."

Her face the usual cool stone, Zoe looked down at the baby then demanded, "Well, who in their right mind would call that child Hoban Tam? Of course you'll name him Washburn."

Meadow leaned forward and gently kissed her cousin on the cheek, the jumped up and grabbed Zoe's hand. "Aunt Zoe, I would like to make a cake in celebration of baby Washburn's birth," she said decidedly. "Would you supervise and tell me about how you met Uncle Wash again?"

River gracefully got to her feet and handed the baby to Kaylee. "It has been pre-established- along with your acquiescence- that the employment of a convectional culinary device would be strictly without physical interaction."

"Wha'd she say?" Mal demanded.

"She's not allowed to use the oven and she knows it."

Meadow gave her mother an only partially patient look. "That's why I asked Zoe to supervise."

"Zoe hates cooking. She'll tell you stories and I'll turn on the oven," River said as the three of them made their way out of the buck.

The five remaining crew members were silent until Kaylee demanded, "Did anyone else know Meadow calls 'im Uncle Wash?"

She was answered in a head shaking to the negative from Simon and Mal but Inara said, "I've heard her mention Uncle Wash, but I didn't know Zoe was the one who told her the stories about him."

"Ah hell," Jayne muttered, "that lil' girl knows more'n we're like to give 'er credit for. What makes ye think Wash'd be any differ'nt?"

They were quiet again and after a moment Simon demanded, "So, we were the hens, huh?"

"Yeah, sweetie, we're the hens," Kaylee nodded.

>>>>

I just wanted to thank everyone for your positive response- it's been a really nice pick-up during finals. Also for the next couple of weeks, I'm going home for the holidays so up-dates might not be quite so frequent, but there are still more tales to be told so fear not.


	12. Defective

"Simon!" River called out worriedly as she ran into the infirmary, Meadow in her arms. "Simon, there's something wrong."

He turned around frantically, dropping the bottles in his hands as River laid her baby on the exam table. "What is? What's wrong?" he demanded, not instantly seeing something wrong with his niece.

"She's defective, you have to fix her!" River said fretfully. Simon momentarily froze in place and slowly turned at glare at his sister. "She's too _quiet_!" River insisted. "It's not right!" Rubbing his hands over his eyes, Simon slowly counted to ten and then tried counting to thirty. Of course his psychic baby sister would end up a nervous mother, she was insane after all. "Never makes a sound, not ever! Not when sleeping or eating or being pinched-"

"River, you _pinched _her?" Simon shouted in horror.

Rolling her eyes she patiently said, "Was a hypothetical, Simon. She wouldn't actually pinch the baby. But Captain dropped a big box and the noise echoed much but she didn't cry! She never cries, Simon. Weeks and not even a tiny little peep! _Fix my baby_!"

"_Mei-mei_, I'm not going to _force _Meadow to cry," he said in disbelief.

"Didn't say to make her cry, Simon," she said patronizingly. "Said to fix her."

Jayne walked into the infirmary for his immunizations before going off-ship and he looked curiously at the contentedly silent baby on the exam table. "Summat wrong wi' th'lil' nutter?" he wondered, reaching over to tickle the baby lightly.

At that, little Meadow yawned and made the tiniest sound, but the way everyone jumped, it may as well have been an explosion. After four weeks, everyone just assumed the baby it was normal that she never much noise, but they hadn't realized how used they were to her complete silence.

"She made a noise!" River gasped.

Jayne shrugged indifferently. "She squeaked."

Smiling ecstatically, River scooped the baby off the table. "She made a noise!" she gushed happily. "Have to tell Kaylee." Before she was a step closer to the door, she turned around and kissed Jayne on the cheek. "You fixed her!" she said cheerily as she bounced out of the room.

Jayne looked over at Simon. "What's wrong with your sister?"

"I wish to God I knew," he replied tiredly.


	13. Pilot

"UNCLE MAL!" Meadow yelled as she vaulted over the last landing into the hold. There was a collective wince as she hit the floor, but girl hadn't once gotten hurt so no one couldn't make her to stop. River could have controlled her daughter, but she was most likely the one who had taught her how to do it in the first place.

"What do you want now, Gosling?" he demanded as Jayne paused in turning on the mule.

Folding her hands sweetly behind her back, she smiled passively but spoke with a distinct pout. "Were you going to go without me?"

"Yes, we're goin' without you," he retorted childishly. "Maybe this time I'll be able to pick a pilot that'll last longer'n a year or so." Serenity had had a touch of bad luck with pilots since losing her first. In thirteen years, they'd had six pilots not counting the two who had last less than a month a piece. The last pilot had been arrested after starting a brawl in a shop where he was attempting to steal the contents of the register. River was more than qualified to fill in, but Mal preferred keeping her free to go on jobs so as to keep people from killing them.

She glared at him for a moment and said, "It's not my fault you picked the wrong pilot. You're going to need me this time."

He laughed incredulously. "Not your fault? You gave me The Look!"

"No," she said patronizingly. "I gave you _a_ look. A look that said 'Quit staring at her chest so she'll want to sign on to Serenity.' It's not my fault you picked the overt criminal. I had thought that you would have seen what _yi da tuo dabian_ he was straight off, so I braided my hair, but this time, I promise I won't assume you are capable of free and independent thought. I will treat you the way Mama treats me."

Jayne gave her an odd look. "_Jing-chang meiyong-de_?"

She rolled her eyes. "That's how _you_ treat me. Mama treats me like a brainless but otherwise capable child."

"Is there _any_ difference in that?" Mal demanded.

"Well," she said, climbing onto the mule, "you'll find out when we're hiring a pilot, won't you?"

Rolling his eyes, Mal turned forward in his seat. "How the hell did I get the rotten luck of having _two_ know-it-all readers on my boat?"

Meadow threw her arms around his neck from behind and kissed his cheek. "I love my mean old uncle."

Doing his best not to smile, he said, "Sit proper. You fall out and die, your mother'll be a mite displeased and most like take it out on me. And no more swearin' or I'll tell your ma to beat you."

>>>>

_yi da tuo dabian:_ a big lump of shit

_Jing-chang meiyong-de_: completely useless


	14. Saved

It had taken years and years, but financial need finally convinced Mal to rent out one of the shuttles. To a photographer who could barely fly a shuttle no less. And that had led them here, standing outside the infirmary, waiting while Simon patched the nasty hole in his niece's side.

Well, that and a ship of Reavers coming up on them when Meadow had taken him out to show him how to pilot the shuttle without crashing it. River'd had one of her fits that lasted -what everyone had to assume - from the time the Reavers hit the shuttle until the time Jayne left the very pale teenager on the operating table.

The photographer didn't say anything from the time they picked them up, which Mal took as a kindness, but when he said in awe, "Not one of the Reavers got past her to the shuttle. She fought as if it were the most natural thing in the world. There was such poetry in her movement…"

"Is there poetry in seein' clean through her, son?" he demanded furiously as Inara had to keep him from putting a bullet in the young man's brainpan. "Maybe you shoulda took a jump on usin' that pistol she left with ya."

"_No killin_!'" Kaylee shouted, getting between them, her face written over with her worry. "No fightin,' no _arguing' _so long as our girl's livin' after what she did- what River done more times 'an we could count. Ain't no sense in it! It _ain't _Nate's fault they got hit, and you _know _that!" They all jumped when Simon walked out to them, wiping blood form his hands, his face a cool stone. "You done already?" Kaylee whispered, fear in her voice.

"She should recover," he said, still detached. "We'll know for sure after she wakes up."

"River ain't worried, that's for gorram sure," Jayne grumbled, getting to his feet. "Squeaker'll be jest fine." There was a finality in his words that everyone somehow trusted more than Simon's diagnosis, Simon included. River _had_ calmed down. Surely she wouldn't have if Meadow wasn't going to recover.

>>>

Mal was waiting beside Meadow when she woke up a couple hours later. He smiled and ran a hand back over her brow. "Well, Gosling, you gave us a scare."

She smiled weakly and said, "Scared myself. Too stupid to live, aren't I? Whole gorram ship."

He nodded. "And you killed 'um all. Your mama had a good year on you 'fore she did the same."

A worried look passed over her face. "How is Mama?" Her mother was never sane, but as long as she could be kept calm, you only really noticed it when she spoke. Her worst episodes always came after Meadow was hurt or away for too long. Simon wasn't even joking when he'd once said that Meadow was the best medicine in the 'verse for River.

"Bit tetchy," Mal confirmed after a moment. "Doc doped her, but you recoverin'll have her right as rain soon enough."

Meadow yawned in deep fatigue then said, "Uncle Mal, it ain't his fault we got hit. Don't go killin' a payin' customer for something he couldn'ta stopped."

Giving her hand a squeeze, he teased, "Doc'll lecture ya, talkin' all improper."

She smiled. "Don't change the subject."

"Hell, I'm enjoyin' this. You're so tired, I get to be the one directin' the conversation for once. Makes me feel right captainy." He looked up when Meadow turned and smiled at the doorway. He stood and kissed her gently on the forehead. "Rest up, ya hear."

"Yes, Captain," she said as his seat was refilled. As he left Mal heard, "Aunt Zoe, I hurt all over."

"Well, lookin' to get yourself killed'll do that."

"Oh, sometimes I think you hate me."

"Only sometimes?"

Mal grinned as he made his way up to the bridge. If Zoe was that calm, there wasn't a reason in the 'verse to fret over the girl. Not this day, anyway.


	15. Jumble

Simon sighed in fatigue as he dropped down onto the couch next to his wife. Kaylee wrapped her arms around him and gently kissed his cheek. "River sleepin?'" she wondered, exhausted herself.

He nodded and slipped an arm around her waist. "I'll need to find some new drugs. It shouldn't have taken seven hours to calm her down." He sighed. River's first really bad day since Miranda had come without any sort of warning, and just as he was starting to forget how bad River could get. "I have no idea where we'll find the things I need."

"Could always knock over another hospital," Kaylee offered with a smile.

Simon grinned slightly then suddenly moved to get up. "Damn it, where's Meadow? I forgot about her-"

Kaylee pulled him back down and held him in place. "Don't worry none, Zoe's got 'er. Everything's shiny."

Looking skeptical, Simon relaxed next to his wife. "You left her with Zoe? She doesn't mind?"

"Why would Zoe mind?" Kaylee demanded in surprise. "Meadow loves Zoe- she wouldn't even go with Jayne." That shocked Simon. While he didn't particularly care for the merc's company, Meadow spend hours shadowing him, especially if he refused to play with her, and she insisted that he teach her how to play his guitar, even though her three year old fingers couldn't reach properly.

Before Simon could respond, Mal walked up to them. "How's River?" he asked somberly.

Kaylee smiled. "It's all shiny, Cap'n. 'Verse'll be right side-up come mornin.'"

"First spell in near four years, you think it'll be over that quick?" he asked the doctor.

Simon nodded then added, "But we should keep Meadow away from her until we're certain."

Mal nodded, his expression not betraying the relief he felt at Simon broaching the subject first. The subject of what was best for the little girl was sometimes a touchy one. "Just so we're agreed. She still with Zoe?" he asked Kaylee, who nodded. "How much she see?"

"Enough." They all looked up to where Zoe stood in the entryway. "She's fine, but it scared her, two of them connected like that are. She's sleepin' now."

"You good to keep her?" Mal inquired.

Zoe nodded. "She ain't no trouble."

Kaylee patted her husband on the shoulder. "You need sleep. Can't have our doctor droppin' off when we need 'im."

"The same goes for our mechanic," he pointed out as they both got to her feet. "I'm going to tell Meadow good-night first," he said, with a quick look to Zoe, who nodded.

Meadow was sleeping peacefully when Simon went down into Zoe's bunk, but she opened her eyes the second he sat down next to her. "Zoe told me stories," she said casually. "About when Mama was always like she was today."

Simon ran a comforting hand back over her hair. "She loves you, _bao-bei_, more than anything in the 'verse. She didn't know what she was saying."

"She was jumbled," the little girl agreed thoughtfully. "She forgot to brush my hair. May I stay with Aunt Zoe tonight?"

With a smile, Simon kissed his niece's forehead. "Of course. Go back to sleep," he instructed. She nodded and pulled the covers up to her chin. "I love you, _bao-bei_."

"I love you, Uncle Simon," she said, nearly asleep again.


	16. Sisters

There were many hiding places on a Firefly. The children knew them even better than the captain. Since the three boys bunked together in the second shuttle, they had all staked out their own separate hiding places and today Derrial felt a strong if inexplicable need to be hiding.

"What are you doing?"

The boy jumped at the sound of a voice outside of his well-concealed hiding spot. Derry hated when she did that. Meadow had the infuriating ability of being able to stand up perfectly straight, bend at the hips and put her head to her shins. Her mother could do it, too.

"Go away! I'm busy," he informed her, petulantly turning away. She shrugged but didn't move otherwise. The Tams were a menace and she was the worst of all. She wasn't really his sister, but she sure acted like she was. A big, annoying sister, who knew just about everything, was obnoxiously perfect and wasn't even worth having around most of the time. Especially when she said, "My mothers are looking for you." He hated it when she did that. It wasn't fair that she got to claim them all as her own. And when she said it now, there was something rather wicked in her tone and thin smile.

He looked up at her in surprise and fear. "All four of 'um? _Why_?" She shrugged again, her face and hair disappeared and her feet went on their way. Derry scrambled out of his hiding place and hurried after her. "Aw, come on, Meadi! Wha'd I do?" he begged, tugging at the skirt of her second-hand sundress.

"You mean you don't know?" she inquired, obnoxiously smug as she led him up towards the kitchen. Derry came to a sudden halt as they walked through the doorway. "_Feng le_ boy! Forgot your own birthday!" she giggled as he took in the cake and prettily wrapped presents arranged on the table.

His mother came up and gave him a big kiss on the cheek and a hug. Holding him close, she sighed in a sad way only a mother can. "Nine years old! Only a couple more years before we send you to school and you _really _start to grow up." Derry hugged his mother tightly in response. Normally, the subject of school would bring about a yelling match on the part of the boys, especially because Meadow hadn't been sent away.

"Well, come on! This is s'posedta be a party," Kaylee broke the oddly gloomy mood by producing a tray of actual fruit that Mal had consented to buy for the special day. "And we got real food! Ain't it shiny?"

"And I made you something," Meadow informed him, glowing in self-pride as she tended to do when she felt the need to remind everyone just how brilliant she really was. She held out a flat package and loftily said, "I don't know why I bother, it's certainly not as if you deserve my kindness, but I'm just _too _big a person to let your petty faults get in my way."

When he hesitated, his mother laughed and tickled him slightly. "Well, open it!"

He didn't really have a older, annoyingly perfect, genius sister. While he didn't much care for her inhuman ability to sneak up on him, he couldn't help but love that he had a girl vaguely fitting that description who was able to completely overhaul rundown dedicated source boxes and fix them to work even out in the Black.

It _almost _made everything else bearable.

>>>>

_feng le_ - loopy in the head


	17. Hair

River loved brushing her daughter's hair. It was long and silky, it slipped right through her fingers.

Nearly perfect black, it very was dark. Darker than her own, and elegantly straight. Inara was always working her hair into pretty curls and ornate fashions, but it was perfect just brushed out and hanging loose. Her hair was so long, longer than her own ever got. Simon always had her cut it, he said it wasn't safe. Simon worried too much. Meadow's hair reached nearly to her hips, Inara kept it trimmed and healthy, and Simon didn't worry so much about his niece getting caught on the ship's many sharp parts.

And River kept brushing her hair. She brushed Meadow's hair every morning and evening, losing track of time as she pulled her brush back through the thick tresses over and over again.

No matter how confused she felt, she always remembered that simple act had to be done. River could calm herself by getting lost in strands of hair. Soft, shiny hair.

>>>>

Author's note: Okay, two things that I've been wanting to write about are the boys and this hair story (along with how close River and Meadow are, but that'll be coming later). More about the boys coming next- I don't mean to neglecte them, but Meadow's funnier when she's got adult minds to go up against.


	18. Noise

"I can't wait until I'm older and have babies."

Simon, Jayne, and Mal all looked up in a sudden horror. "I don't _ever_ want to hear those words coming out of your mouth again," Simon said sharply.

"Why not?" she demanded indignantly. "What's wrong with babies? _You _have babies!"

"Nothing's wrong with babies," he patiently back-tracked. "So long as you're married."

"An' y'ain't gettin' married 'til ye're at least forty, or _I'm_ dead," Mal added.

Simon nodded in agreement. "I feel that goes without saying by this point."

"Why do _I _have to be married? _Mama's _not married. _Auntie Nara's _not either."

"Well, _you _have to be!"

"_Why_?"

"Because I said so!"

She rolled her eyes in adolescent disdain at the age of seven. "That's _not _an answer, Uncle Simon."

"Of course it is," he assured her. "It just won't stand up particularly well against cross-examination. Now, go to your room."

"_Simon_!" Kaylee chided as she waddled into the kitchen. "Stop orderin' the sweetie-pie 'round an' make me dinner already."

"Yeah, Doc," Mal said with a grin.

Turning on him with a look, Kaylee said, "Nara's plumb worn out with a brand-new baby. Think ya might be helpin' t'look after ye're son?" He rolled his eyes as Simon and Jayne sniggered and went as he was told, muttering, "A body'd think I weren't captain o' my own boat."

Meadow grinned as she ran over to Kaylee and pressed her ear against her aunt's belly. "Wha'd ya hear, bao-bei?" Kaylee inquired with a smile.

"He's resting," she said after a moment. "Jonah's much quieter than Burn was."

"Good to know," Jayne muttered, receiving a glare from Meadow. "Jest sayin' you'as quiet. Nuther'n like you'd be a nice change." She stuck her tongue out at him in an uncharacteristically childish gesture, making Kaylee giggle.

There was a noise in the hallway and Simon covered his eyes in pain. "Oh, God! Tell me he didn't bring it up again."

"Knowin' Mal?" Jayne demanded rhetorically.

"He ain't got the sense of a dead mule," Kaylee grudgingly agreed.

"I still don't see why ye're name's first!" they heard Mal grumble loudly.

"Because _I _gave birth to him!" Inara snapped. "When _you _give birth, _your _name can be first!"

>>>>

Meadow Jayne Tam, Washburne Frye Tam "Burn", Derrial Thomas Serra-Reynolds "Derry", Jonah Hiroko Tam

Okay, those are the kids. A yearish between each boy, and five between Meadow and Burn.


	19. Resident

The captain was just leading the new tenant out of the shuttle when the three boys ran into the hold, more mature than most from the ages of ten to twelve, but at the moment playing and hollering like they were a bit younger. At a more sedate pace, a young woman followed, a book in one hand, a beagle puppy cradled in the other.

He must have been staring a little more intently than he realized because the captain informed him in a rather threatening manner, "She's sixteen, you even think on touchin' 'er, I'll toss you out th'airlock after we break atmo."

A warmth crept over the captain's features as he called down to her. The both watched her as she gracefully made her way up to them. "Gosling, I thought I told ya to leave that monster someplace far away- preferably tied up so it weren't like to follow ya back," he scolded as the little animal yapped and wagged its tail happily at seeing him.

The girl smiled sweetly and said, "Aw, but look at how little he is! Max wouldn't survive on his own. He _needs _us."

"Ya named 'im?" he demanded, in a tone that resembled a whine.

"_Derry _named him," she corrected with an odd smugness that caused the captain to roll his eyes in exaggerated pain. She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. "Yes, I'll finish the tour for you, go do your captainy work." With a patronizing smile, she waved him on his way. Once the captain was securely out of earshot, she turned to him and inquired, "So, did he threaten to shoot you?"

He shook his head slowly. "Toss me out of the airlock."

With a tired head shake she said, "The way he goes on about things, you would think he thought I was a virgin. Or not a part of this crew." She smiled sweetly. "I'm Meadow, by the way."

"Are you the captain's daughter? He didn't mention he was married."

She laughed. "You'll learn why that's so funny, and hell no. I'm a Tam. There are a few of us running around this boat- doctor, mechanic, co-pilot…"

"Nathaniel Bauer. Nate, actually," he replied.

"Have we met?" she questioned playfully. "It can't have been more than in passing, but you look familiar. Somehow I think I'd better remember a handsome gentleman such as yourself." She moved a little bit closer and flirtatiously said, "Maybe you could jog my memory."

"You wanna get me killed, don't you?"

She gave him a chastising look. "Now, why would you think that? It's not like Uncle Mal's around. Or Uncle Jayne- he might hurt you if we exchange salutations." She grinned impishly as she added, "But I have to commend you're judge of character, because they really would kill you. Or _attempt _to, anyway. I tried to tell that to Lee, but he just wouldn't listen when I told him to run."

"And what about that imposing woman- who I'm guessing is your mother- who dragged you out of that bar two nights ago?"

She rolled her eyes at her own slow thinking. "Oh, _that's _who you are. No, my mother was the smaller, non-threatening one. Come on, then. I have to give you a tour of Serenity- if you're going to live here, it's best you know where things are. We can't have you stumbling into the engine room looking for the infirmary." She could help giving him a sideways look. "And I think you'll be needing to know how to find your way there."

"Oh, God, why?"

"You'll find out."

"What if I don't want to find out?"

"You'll find out anyway." She grinned again. "And relatively soon, I think."


	20. Dates

"_Zaogao_! Somebody help me!" Meadow yelled, her voice echoing through the ship.

Sitting at the kitchen table, Kaylee and Inara exchanged brief looks before simultaneously calling, "Boys!"

The boys rolled their eyes in unison and said with their mothers, "Go to the shuttle and close the door."

Jayne strode into Serenity, practically oblivious to Meadow's 110 lbs. hanging from around his neck like a very loud piece of fabric. River appeared in front of him and sternly said, "Stop, Ape-man."

He stopped, but glaring at River said, "Ye shoulda taught yer daughter summat 'bout decency."

Everyone was now in a loose circle around them, and Kaylee protested, "Meadow's plen'y decent!"

He snorted. "Decent girls ain't gettin' upta what this'n was _in public_. 'Swhy 'at _wangba dan'_s gonna git shot."

She rolled her eyes as she dropped down to the floor. "Oh, it was hardly indecent. We were only kissing."

He snorted again. "Day 'at's jest kissin,' I'll give ya Vera."

"_Tama de hundan_!" Mal exploded before turning on River. "You started this!"

She looked at him in perfect innocence. "She doesn't comprehend your meaning."

"_Laotianye_! He means the birth control, River!" Simon snapped.

"_What_!" Jayne roared.

"Not being on birth control won't stop a person from having sex," Inara pointed out, receiving vicious glares for her logic. "I'm not saying she did anything," she added quickly, taking a nervous step back.

Jayne turned to Simon and Mal who were sympathetic to him without caring to hear the details. "Hundan had t'be twen'y."

"Sonofa_bitch_, Meadow!" Simon exploded, making Kaylee giggle.

"I'm the one who should be angry!" she protested. "Lee's not going to go out with me again after this. He's a very jumpy young man, and Jayne scared the hell out of him!"

"Ain't no reason for ye to be seein' men, anyhow," Mal said firmly. "Expectin' things and the like."

Meadow scoffed at that. "Come on! If anything _I _pressured him." As her mind caught up with her mouth, she sputtered, "Oh, I-I mean… shit."

Mal looked over at Inara, who was giggling hysterically but stopped when he turned. "Did you know about this?" he demanded.

She blandly replied, "Yes, Mal. I've been giving her _lessons_. Secret whoring lessons- what _the hell_ is wrong with you?"

River gracefully pushed her way between the men and her daughter. "Not an issue for everyone to be arguing over. She can handle this." She pushed Meadow toward the empty first shuttle and then looked back at the other women. "Inara, Kaylee, Zoe, aren't you coming?" she demanded, curious why they hadn't immediately followed. They smiled smugly at the men, and hurried to catch up.

Left alone, the men of Serenity stood in furious silence for a moment until Jayne said, "I still think we should shoot 'im."

--->

"Am I in trouble?" Meadow demanded, dropping down onto the bed.

"Were you in trouble the time I found you in that bar on Beaumonde?" Zoe demanded.

"Or in any of the _other_ bars for that matter?" River added.

"Not in any way that Uncle Simon, Uncle Mal, or Uncle Jayne would figure out," she answered.

Shaking her head, Kaylee said, "I'm surprised ya'd be out some place Jayne'd find ya."

"And kissing in a public place?" Inara said with a headshake. "It's so tasteless."

"It wasn't _that _public," Meadow assured her. "He was going to take me to a real restaurant. I'm not sure how nice, but still… We were in an empty alleyway."

With a grin, Zoe said, "Which goes t'explain how Jayne found 'em."

>>>>

_Zaogao_: damn it

_wangba dan_: SOB

_Tama de hundan_: mother humping bastard

_Laotianye_: Jesus


	21. Dinner

At the head of the table, a captain surveyed his crew. It was a right motley crew he had too.

On his right, a fifteen year old girl took her mother's hands as they came dangerously close to her bowl of soup. Her mother - who could easily be mistaken as her sister - smiled and the two touched their foreheads together. After so many years, the odd sight was more comforting than creepifying. They were both readers, but the girl was only able to see into her mother's mind the same way her mother read everyone she came within a few miles of. Even if they didn't speak for days, messages would be relayed and unrepeatable stories would be recounted.

Beside them, his merc arm wrestled all three boys at once and continued eating as they struggled valiantly to over-power him. One two of the boys were brothers, but it was sometimes hard to tell which two were blood they were so close. And every one of them was smart - _gifted_, as the doc said.

At the opposite end of the table, his second and his doctor chatted and joked with the pilot who had miraculously been with them for nearly two years. When he'd been brought aboard, both captain and second had agreed that he was a bit young to be so qualified, but the girl had insisted he was their man. So far she'd been right. He was also the cousin of a pair of twins the crew had known in the days before Miranda, so his background was shady enough to satisfy everyone.

And on his left, his eternally sunny genius-mechanic chatted with the former Companion who sometimes admitted she loved him. And some seventeen years later, she was still as spectacularly beautiful as she had been the day she had first rented a shuttle from him.

A slight smile slid over his face as he looked them over. Motley though they were, they made a mighty fine family.


	22. Presents

"_That's it_! I hate every last one o' ya, and y'all can get the hell off my boat on our next stop!"

"Jeeze, we love you too, Uncle Mal," Meadow responded, thoroughly unconcerned.

"And the correct term is _disembark_," River informed him, rather patronizing in her good mood.

Looking up from cleaning her weapons, Zoe inquired, "Anything particular you need, sir?"

"Do you not even _care_ why I'm in a foul mood?"

"Not pa'ticularly," Jayne answered honestly.

"'Spect it's got somethin' to do with us not makin' a fuss over yer birthday," Kaylee replied, not looking up from her cooking. "Even though ya_ asked_ us not to."

"Mom, he _threatened _us!" Jonah reminded her, still baffled by the thought of absolutely, under no circumstances, no fuss being made over someone's birthday.

"Well, he's had so many of them, what could there be left to celebrate other than he hasn't died yet?" Simon deadpanned.

"That_ ain't _why I'm angry!" he snapped. "Who the _gorram hell _let a _dog _onta my boat?"

"Oh." Meadow and the boys quickly exchanged looks then they all cheerfully proclaimed, "Surprise! Happy Birthday!"

"Told ye he'd find that damn thing," Jayne muttered as Mal smacked himself in the face for not seeing that coming.

"It's a _puppy_, not a thing!" Meadow hissed.

"Y'ain't keeping' it," Mal proclaimed, receiving groans of displeasure and protest from everyone but Jayne and Simon. "Did _everyone_ know 'bout that gorram dog bein' onboard? Since when am I not captain o' this boat?"

"Since last year when you got drunk and Meadow declared herself the new captain forever and you agreed," Derry reminded him.

"That _wasn't real_!" he yelled for what had to have been the thousandth time.

Sitting primly, Meadow folded her hands in her lap. "I'm sorry, Uncle Mal, but that tone is entirely unacceptable. I think you need a Time Out."

"Girl, you ain't so big I can't beat you good," he warned. Meadow and River looked at each other then turned on Mal with identical looks that clearly said, "Oh, you think so?" He stared them down for a minute then stormed out of the kitchen grumbling, "_Wo de tian, a_! Wha'd I do to get such a _jing-chang meiyong-de _crew?"

>>>>

_Wo de tian, a!_ - Dear God in heaven!

_jing-chang meiyong-de_ - completely useless


	23. Distraction

Les lived in a precarious position aboard Serenity. He was counted among the men, but because he had only been with the crew for three and a half years, he didn't have the driving need to kill every single man who looked at Meadow like she was a gorgeous and highly sexed young woman, which she most certainly was. He also was highly amused by some of the rather bawdy stories the women spoke of quite freely when the men weren't around.

They were planet side one fine afternoon when Mal stormed onto the bridge. He glared around for a moment, then demanded, "You know where River's at?"

Les shook his head slowly. "No… but unless she's in front of me, I sorta never know where she is." Mal rolled his eyes in annoyance and Les careful inquired, "Somethin' go wrong with the deal?"

"Oh, it went right smooth," he said, clearly annoyed. "So smooth, in fact, folks in town're talkin' over a pretty stranger who near on hypnotized all the men."

"That don't sound so bad."

"_Table dancing_!"

"Oh! So, why you lookin' for River?"

"Meadow don't wanna be found, I can't find 'er. River can, and that girl needs to be beat."

Les shrugged. "Well, I haven't seen her. I think she's off-ship."

Mal stormed out without another word, and Les waited a few moments before he turned onto the com to the first shuttle. "Cap't's lookin' for you. I told him you were dirt side."

"_Well, who exactly is he looking for?_" Inara's voice inquired.

"River, so he can find Meadow," he replied. "And I wanna hear why you thought it'd be a good idea to distract a town with table dancing."

He heard Meadow giggling as she responded, "_Actually, that was just for kicks. Wait until you hear what Auntie Kaylee got up to!_"

He grinned and assured her, "Oh, I can't wait."


	24. Visits

"_I _want to go to _Grammy's_!"

Simon barely looked down at his niece. Her tone wasn't quite whining, but it would become grating if it were allowed to continue. "Mrs. Cobb isn't your grandmother!" he snapped, annoyed that nothing he said could get the girl to behave otherwise.

"Mother Cobb is a suitable figure for grandmotherly affection," River said absently, staring with Simon at the massive house that had once been considered their home. Meadow looked up at her mother and wrapped her arms as far as they would go around her hips.

"Her birthday's next month," Kaylee said, in awe of the house. "Cap'n said we'd go out to see 'er."

On Serenity, it was a non-issue, but standing in front of his parents' walled complex, in dawned on Simon that they hadn't bought new clothes in years, and while their second-hands were in good condition, they were still second-hand and his parents weren't likely to miss that fact.

Regan Tam had issued a very polite and formal invitation to her children that Simon hadn't wanted to accept. Kaylee of course thought it was a wonderful idea, and River couldn't have cared less. It was Inara who had persuaded him, reminding him that whatever he thought of them, they were still his parents.

And so, all five of the Tams found themselves standing outside of a house that was bigger than Serenity, unsure or unwilling to go inside. After standing quietly for several minutes, Kaylee asked, "Ya think they'll like me?"

Simon, River, and Meadow all respond with identical and unthinking, "No." Meadow darted away from her mother and threw her arms around her aunt. "_I _love you, Auntie Kaylee. And that's _far _more important."

->->->

Standing just back from the window, Regan watched expectantly as her children stood just outside of the grounds. Gabriel looked up from his paper and with a clear annoyance said, "Either they'll come or they won't. Waiting at the window won't decide anything."

"They're here," she whispered.

He looked up in surprise. "What?"

"Simon's wife is pregnant with their second child, and River has a daughter who might be about seven," she informed him quietly. "And I'll thank you to be civil. I've missed them."

"They turned their backs on us."

"And we turned our backs on them. We have _grandchildren_, Gabriel, can't you just let the past go?"

"Simon's the one who let the past go," he responded quietly. "He ruined his life and you want me to be civil?"

She nodded and deadpanned, "Hm, he ran to the ass-end of the 'verse, fell in love, and is now happily married with children. You're right, Gabriel, to hell with him."

With an eye roll, Gabriel stood up and walked out of the room. "Darling, I hope you never wondered why our children were so belligerent."

"No, dear," she replied cheerfully. "I just hope he grew out of being a pompous _feifei de piyan _like you."

>>>>>>>

_feifei de piyan : baboon's ass crack_


	25. Lies

"Do you not understand the concept of living on a 'ship and eating little more than protein all the time?"

What had started out as a simple reminiscence of childhood memories had turned into an enlightening discussion on how people really lived off of the Core planets. "You didn't have an orange until you were six years old?"

"We'd always get apples if there was fruit available, and Auntie Kaylee likes strawberries," she responded rather disinterestedly, curling herself onto the couch in the lounge. "You people on the Core never really believe what it's like for us."

"I think I've lived on this ship long enough to know how most people live on the Rim."

She grinned and replied, "You would think so, wouldn't you."

"Well, you've got to love Fruity Oaty Bars," he said, clearly expecting an affirmative, he was floored when she shrugged and shook her head. "You _don't_ like Oaty Bars?"

"We're not allowed to have them," she replied with an indifferent shrug.

"You're not allowed to have _Fruity Oaty Bars_?" he repeated incredulously. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"

With a grin she said, "Well, you haven't been around this crew very long."

"I don't think I can date a girl who's never had an Oaty Bar- it's just not natural."

She chuckled. "Well, I have a very good reason for avoiding them."

"And what is that reason?" he demanded in mock seriousness.

"The commercial once sent my mother into a murderous rage and she killed a barroom of people without breaking a sweat or wrinkling her dress, so Uncle Mal banned them from Serenity."

He was silent for a moment then said, "Why the _hell _can't you say something normal for once? I'd like to get through just _one _conversation with you where I don't have to listen to some ridiculous story."

"Fortunately or unfortunately, that one _is_ true," she assured him.

"Oh, _sure _it is. Just like how it was the captain, Zoe, Jayne, and your family who exposed Miranda. I'm honestly surprised you can't lie better."

"Well, _you _can barely fly a shuttle. I think I'm still ahead in this equation."


	26. Bed

It was just after midnight when the Tams arrived back home on Serenity after their night reuniting with the older generation of their family. Barely awake, Meadow held onto her mother for dear life as she stumbled across the walkways.

"So, how're the folks?" Mal inquired casually, scooping Meadow off the ground as she nodded off on her feet. River gave her daughter a kiss and headed for the bridge.

Moving his arms to more securely holdhis sleeping son and barely awake wife, Simon said, "Surprising, actually. On all counts."

"It was nice," Kaylee said, sounding quite drunk in her fatigue. "They had strawberries at dessert."

Meadow woke slightly at the word dessert and mumbled, "Ate the broccoli, can I have more gravy for the icky _gou shi_?" She then snuggled back into Mal's shoulder and something fell out of her hand which Mal easily caught. It was deceptively heavy and looked as if it was inlaid with precious stones.

He looked at it for a moment then said, "Huh."

Simon nodded and said, "Yeah. That's part of the surprising." Mal raised a curious eyebrow and he explained, "She stole it to sell for parts. It's been in the family since before leaving Earth-That-Was, and it's worth about as much as we make in three years."

"Stealin' ain't right," Kaylee murmured. "They was nice."

Mal looked at the thing in his hand with a bit more wonder. "And you didn't turn right 'round and hand it back?"

He shrugged and began moving Kaylee towards their bunk. "They'll find it and buy it back."

"Ain't right," Mal heard Kaylee protest. He smiled and readjusted his hold on the miniature thief, her two little arms moving up to hug him around the neck. "I should start takin' you on jobs," he teased the sleeping girl as he headed towards the room she shared with her mother.

"Can I have more gravy?" she demanded again in her sleep.

He chuckled. "Seems you can have anything you can get your hands on, little darlin.'"


	27. Rebuke

"River, you have to discipline your child! You can't just let her do anything she wants!" Simon chastised, careful to keep his voice low as he didn't want to alert his parents to what was occurring in their home.

With a rather in different eye roll, River plucked the object that was creating such a fuss out of his hand and handed it back to her daughter. "It's dealt with. Her colors will be taken away for a week."

"I _meant_ not letting her steal the box in the first place!" he hissed, his very cool exterior cracking.

"They said mean things about Auntie Kaylee," Meadow spoke up, cradling the jewel-encrusted music box in her arms. Simon gave her a hard look and she quietly amended, "Well, Grandfather _might_ be thinking mean things."

"He is. And you're not keeping it. We're taking the box and trading it for money," River said with finality that shocked Simon. Before he could respond, River looked down at her daughter who rolled her eyes in a rather dramatic manner and then left the room. "That box is worth a fortune."

"Yes, Grandfather told us many, many times about just how important it is. Father loves it- we _can't_ trade it!"

River watched him for a moment then said, "Kaylee hasn't told you."

"She hasn't told me what?"

"Serenity needs parts. More than we can buy at once with what we make at crime. Big parts, little parts, all expensive and all needed right now." She paused for a moment then whispered, "She'll be floating before the baby's born."

Simon stared at his sister in shocked silence then inquired, "Kaylee told you this?"

She shook her head. "Can't think about it, baby inside and in her arms- Serenity told me."

"Surely the Captain-"

"Doesn't know," River interrupted. "Not Zoe, not Inara. Not _Meadow_. She doesn't even know that I know, Simon. This is different from all the other times we could have been floating- have been. Serenity won't just break, she'll die."

"Then we'll ask Father for the money."

She shook her head. "Won't give it."

"Then a loan."

She shook her head more forcefully. "_Won't give it_. And Mother can't sneak the money we need. Simon, we _will_ die with Serenity."

He looked away for a moment then said quietly, "It's a family heirloom, mei-mei. It's priceless."

"Put a tag on it, Simon," she instructed rather coolly. "We need the money more than he needs a piece of pretty." She shrugged. "He'll find it on the black market. Family'll get it back."

Simon thought it over for a moment then demanded, "When did Meadow get her hands on it?"

"She wandered into his study about ten minutes after we came in."

"Three hours and Father hasn't noticed?"

"And he was in the room when she took it," she said with a pleased smile.

"That's _not_ something to be proud of, River," Simon reminded her.


	28. Snip

Meadow was so accustomed to her mother's quiet rants and mumblings that, light sleeper as she was, they never woke her up. But when a long chunk of something soft and silky landed on her face, her eyes opened just a tiny bit.

It was still very early on the ship. No one was up, but River had seemed like she was coming up on a bad day; Meadow was even sleeping in her mother's bed because of the nightmares.

What was on her face felt like hair, and it might have been her own but it just seemed the wrong color and she vaguely remembered tying her hair up before bed. She pulled it away from her face, and when the entire chunk moved with her hand, she sat up in a sudden disgust and realization of where the hair had come from.

Meadow had previously awaken to find her mother doing something rather odd or mildly destructive, never potentially dangerous. River wasn't allowed to touch sharp things, especially when she was in a mood. Meadow watched briefly as she pulled a chunk of her long hair into the air, and with a large kitchen knife, sliced off her hair six inches from her scalp.

In a flash, Meadow was out of bed, one hand grabbing her mother's wrist and the other coming in contact with her elbow, forcing the knife out of her hand and blade first into the door. River wheeled around and moved to jab her daughter in the eyes, but she moved out of the way and brought her knee into her mother's side. River stumbled but managed to connect with Meadow's collar bone, buying herself enough time to retrieve the knife from the door. Meadow grabbed the only thing she could - a fan that doubled as a weapon which Inara had given her two years earlier on her thirteenth birthday - and swore that once she was out of the infirmary, she would start taking more time to practice with the deceptive weapons Companions favored.

>>>>

Meadow knew she was in the infirmary before she opened her eyes. "_Renci de Fozu_," she muttered as she was suddenly washed over with immense pain.

Someone near her, Simon she suspected, snorted and crossed over to her side. "Merciful indeed. You're lucky to be alive. You've been unconscious almost a full day."

"Mama wouldn't have killed me," she retorted, not nearly as weak as she felt as she forced open her eyes. "And anyway, I have a very think skill. What happened? I don't remember."

"I didn't expect you to wake so soon," he said, clearly skirting the topic. "You'll have to be careful, I had to put four stitches in your scalp."

"I'm not going to freak out if you tell me," she said, frankly. "Why do you think Mama's spent so much time teaching me how to fight?"

Simon regarded her with a look of bewildered horror. "She _knew _you'd have to protect yourself from her?"

"In _general_," she corrected. "And _I _attacked _her_. It was a reflexive defense - neither of us are going to hold it against the other. So, what happened?"

He looked down at her for a moment then turned away as he said, "I can't be sure of the order of events, but you have a fractured clavicle, three fractured ribs - one of which was compound - you took a blow to the stomach that I had thought might have caused a puncture in your spleen, your pelvic bone is bruised, and of course there is the blow to the head." He took a deep breath and added, "And interspersed in that you dislocated River's shoulder and slashed the blood vessels in her right wrist."

She watched her uncle for a moment then demanded, "But my spleen's fine, correct? I just what to make sure that I'm not bleeding out as we speak?" He suddenly froze then turned and gave his niece a harsh look, to which she smiled sweetly. "Where is Mama?"

"She almost killed you," a small voice came from the doorway. River stood just behind the doorframe, her hair now bobbed and one of her arms bandaged. "She always does bad things, but she doesn't know it until she goes to sleep."

With a dismissive scoff, Meadow said, "Oh, that's just _feng le_. You're more upset about your hair being cut than putting me in here."

River regarded her daughter for a moment then snapped, "What's _feng le _is you trying _not _to hurt her! She taught you better than that!"

"Clearly, you're out of you mind," Meadow said, leaning back onto the exam table and closing her eyes. "What chance did I have of hurting you? The only weapon I had was a fan. _You _had a butcher's knife."

"River, you had a _what_?" Simon demanded.

"Fan was knives," River muttered with an eye roll as she moved further into the infirmary and sat down beside her daughter. "Five and first strike. Clear advantage."

"Lot of good it did," her daughter murmured as she hovered on the edge of consciousness. "I had a weapon I haven't mastered yet."

"_You will_," River thought, gently petting her daughter.

"_Damn right I will_," she responded.

->->->->

_Renci de Fozu: _Merciful Buddha

_feng le_: loopy in the head


	29. Captured

Meadow was famous. Most people didn't realize it when they saw her on the streets, but she was the girl fighting Reavers in the still capture.

Nate had taken captures and forgotten about them in the aftermath. He found them again three years later, hidden at the bottom of his things. One picture among them was a shot with Meadow in the center, to the left was the falling body of a Reaver just slain, a skewered Reaver on her right, and just behind her was the Reaver she was turning to kill. That was the Reaver who had put the savage blade right through her abdomen. And that blade was sticking a good four inches out in front of her.

That capture made his reputation and led to his decision to leave.

Naturally, Meadow was furious. After three years (one where they weren't sneaking around because Meadow was finally eighteen) they were both completely in love with each other, but Nate couldn't stay on Serenity, and Meadow couldn't leave.

Only Inara saw her cry and comforted her in her anguish. Zoe, River, and Kaylee knew she did, they helped her to look presentable afterwards. But there wasn't a man aboard who could say they knew for certain that she had shed even a single tear over the event. She emerged dry-eyed and civil to the point of indifference to say good-bye when he disembarked.

Her picture being popping up all over the 'verse a month later, much to the amusement of some of their business partners - namely Badger - and to the horror of everyone who looked on Meadow as a grandchild.

Nate sent Meadow an original print, but she couldn't look at it without feeling pain all through her side. River adored the capture and so she saved it from the trash. "She created the most perfect poetry," she told Zoe when the first-mate asked why she held onto it. "Now the entire 'verse can appreciate it too."

>>>>

Okay, big delay. I'll try not to go so long again, but I've been in a very weird mood, so... enjoy!


	30. Will

Zoe had stood back from all the baby nonsense. All through the pregnancy and in the two weeks since the birth, she had given River more than a little space. But even Jayne had taken a liking to the kid, and though she didn't necessarily feel left out, she couldn't very well ignore the kid her whole life.

Late one night, when River and the rest of the crew were mostly asleep in their bunks, Zoe quietly slipped into River's bunk and walked over to the crib that Jayne and the Captain had made as a gift. Almost hesitantly, Zoe peaked in at the tiny baby.

The very little girl was wide awake, her giant eyes open and fixed on the colorful mobile Kaylee had made. The room was so absolutely quiet, Zoe wondered if the baby knew that newborns were supposed to cry incessantly and was just choosing not to.

"She's your baby, too," River said, making Zoe jump slightly in surprise. She looked over at the young mother who had sat up in bed without making so much as a rustle, and River continued, "Such a lucky little girl to have four mothers. Sweet Kaylee, elegant Inara, crazy River, strong Zoe." She was silent for a moment and they both looked at Meadow who seemed to know she was being discussed. "She needs _you _most of all."

"River," Zoe started slowly, "I don't think-"

"She needs you," River insisted gently. "You need her too. Babies are good for healing grown-ups, but grown-ups need to teach babies to do it for themselves. She can't teach her daughter to be strong, she knows it. Can't teach how to heal inside because she's broken. And if something happens to her, she wants _you _to take care of her baby." Zoe's eyes narrowed slightly and River continued, "She's already talked to Simon, has it written down in case… we lead very dangerous lives, Zoe. Will you be my baby's godmother?"

Smiling a bit wryly, Zoe inquired, "You seem a little nervous. Did you think I'd say no?"

River smiled and looked down as she shook her head. "Having her baby makes her nervous. She didn't know she could love something so much."

Zoe nodded slowly then looked back at Meadow. "I know what you mean."

>>>>>

Okay, I haven't completely given up here, but my inspiration is definitelycoming in different areas lately, so these little vignettes will be coming more sporadically then they used to.


	31. Parentage

"You know, I haven't thought of this in years," Inara mused one afternoon as they were putting down on a planet, "but your father's from here. Or anyway, he _was _from here about nineteen years ago." Meadow answered quietly, head in Inara's lap as she sulked and wallowed in her recent broken heart, and what she said so floored her aunt that the incredibly composed woman actually stuttered, "Yo- I do- how th- what did you just say?"

"I didn't know that."

Inara stared at her niece in open-mouthed astonishment then said, "You and River like you are, and you _didn't know _your father was from here?"

She shrugged, absently petting Max who was laying floppily across her belly. "No, but Mama would never tell me about who he was anyway."

"_What_?!" They both looked up as Kaylee walked into the lounge with plenty of notice. "That ain't even true!"

"Sure it is. Mama used to say she lied about finding a man to be with that night, she was my mother and father both." She rolled her eyes. "Of course then I turned three and demanded a story that could actually be true."

"How is River so damn good at keeping' secrets?"

"She has to keep everybody's," Meadow answered simply as Kaylee shoved her feet around giving her room to sit with them. Inara and Kaylee paused briefly as they thought of a certain secret she'd once kept.

"You sayin' you never asked your mama about your daddy?" Kaylee asked, getting comfortable in the corner of the couch, pulling Meadow's feet back into her lap.

She shrugged. "Ask every year or so. She never really says anything about him. She knows more than she says, I do know that. I think I know what he looks like… looked like."

"Really?" Inara asked, possibly more curious than anyone about the mystery person who'd had such an impact on all their lives. "So, what does he look like?"

"I don't know," she said, oddly uninterested. "Kinda like everyone out here… little like Mal. You know, that superior sort of pompous air. All noble and… still a hard sumbitch."

They contemplated that a moment then Kaylee asked, "He only _looked _like Mal, right?"

A couple hours after they landed, Zoe was making her way off ship when she came across River peeking out from behind the edge of the ramp way to where Mal was meeting with a cousin he hadn't seen in a few years. She looked between them a moment then asked, "You lookin' for somethin' particular, River?" River gave her a sideways look then turned around and walked back into the ship. "Somethin' about this planet always makes you act _feng le_."

"She doesn't comprehend your meaning," River called over her shoulder, sounding like a teenager instead of the mother of a teenager.

"Maybe it ain't the planet." River stopped in her tracks and looked back at Zoe. "Course maybe just hidin' from one thing or another for twenty years'll do that to a body." She shrugged, something of a smile in her eyes. "He's somewhere out there, ain't he?"

River went back on her way into the ship, the smile making its way to her lips. Zoe thought it over a moment then went back on her way.


	32. Quiet

River marveled at how quiet her baby was, but she was like the cows – hadn't been in the world, didn't know what she was. Didn't think real whole thoughts, didn't really know anything but her heartbeat.

It was a nice contrast to everyone else on Serenity. They all knew too much about a lot of things but it was the one thing they didn't know that they shouted in their heads every time they saw her.

Inara was loudest but she just wanted to know who he was. Not to confront, just to know. Companion understood confidentiality but babies change things.

Simon didn't limit it to in his own head. He wanted her to tell him who _he_ was- never the father, just he- but he wasn't himself certain why. Wanted to hit him certainly, wanted him to take responsibility, wanted but didn't want him to marry her or move onto Serenity or get to visit the baby _ever_. River found it more logical to just stay silent.

Kaylee just wanted to know everything- excited there'd be a baby to play with and excited about the babies she wanted to have someday.

Jayne wondered what kind of a guy River would jump. He also thought about how his mama would kill him if he ever knocked a girl up and left her grandbaby to God knows what. But mostly he just wondered on the sex.

Zoe didn't really care about whom he was, she was jealous and sad. Still grieving for Wash, the life they could have had, the baby the never had. Worried she'd resent the baby, she left River well enough alone. And she let her, not wanted to push.

Captain was a puzzle. Little like Simon wanting to punch him, a bit like Jayne thinking on what his mama would say, but River was surprised that he was mostly like Kaylee. He was excited and worried and planning; he tried passing it off as being captainy, but River could tell it was more than that. He sometimes thought on the baby the way she sometimes heard new fathers thinking on their babies, and River was glad her baby had someone to love her like that. Kaylee could sense that too and she secretly wondered how far River had gone to find a daddy for her baby.

Sitting on the bridge in her co-pilot position, she looked out into the black, her hand resting protectively on her gently rounded belly. Her peaceful mood was interrupted by some loud arguing somewhere in Serenity.

"_Come on, baby_," she thought. "_Let's go hide before Simon gets louder_." The response from the baby was what she'd come to think of as a giggle. She smiled, anticipating all the trouble she would stir up just having fun.

-------

Just a note responding review - which I normally don't do - the reason I don't write more on River and Meadow bonding is because they don't need to and frankly I think it would be quite boring to read. They aren't the Gilmore Girls, they're constantly in each other's heads - the only reason they speak to each other is because other people are in the room and they're already involved in the conversation. I tried to get that across subtly but the next scene (which I actually thought of two years ago) should really just slam that point home. After all, less is nothing.


	33. Connection

Simon, Kaylee, and Zoe were just finishing up their lunches when Meadow, attempting to make some tea, nearly broke her cup in her sudden need to steady herself on the counter.

"Is something the matter, bao bei?" Simon asked.

She smiled a bit too broadly. "Fine, just fine," she assured him. She went back to what she'd been doing but seemed oddly wobbly as she did so. They went back to the rest of their meals until Meadow made a strangely strangled high pitched noise. Tea now set aside, she clenched her teeth and hands as she attempted to suppress a shudder.

Something in her behavior struck Kaylee as familiar. Trying to pin point it, her mouth began a step ahead of her brain. "Ya know, River acted th' same way that time-" She instantly cut herself off and looked at Zoe who then turned with her to stare at Meadow in a mixture of bewilderment and amusement.

"No!" Zoe scoffed to the unasked question. "Do ya think?"

"Think what?" Simon inquired, completely in the dark.

"Naw! Couldn't be," Kaylee said with a bit of a chuckle, completely ignoring her husband. "'S a coincidence, right?" she said doubtfully.

"_What's _a coincidence?" Simon demanded.

The ever-surefooted girl suddenly stumbled backwards as her knees stopped working properly and slid to the floor. Simon was up and at her side in moments. "Meadow, you're flushed!" Simon said, feeling her forehead for fever. "Are you sure you feel well?" Kaylee snorted and he looked up at her sharply. "Kaylee! She could be ill! This isn't a laughing matter."

"Is a little," she muttered, suddenly absorbed in her tea.

"I'm fine, Uncle Simon," she said, trying to edge away from him. Simon continued to attempt to check her niece over, but she kept swatting him away.

"Doc, let the girl be," Zoe said, chuckling lightly.

Simon eyed his niece unsurely a moment. "Alright," he said slowly. "But you be sure to bring her to me if you think she isn't well."

"Agreed, honey. Now leave," Kaylee agreed sweetly, briskly pushing him out of the room. Door closed and Simon on his way, she immediately demanded, "_Who _is your mama havin' sex with?"

"I don't know- she doesn't tell me, I don't tell her," she replied, annoyed as she tried to remain on her wobbly feet. "Some things a body should just be able to keep to themselves." Zoe shrugged her agreement and Kaylee momentarily eyed the first mate curiously.

"Well, let's get ya t' your bunk 'fore someone else wanders through an' starts askin' awkward questions," Kaylee said, taking Meadow by the arm.

Her ankle folded underneath her and Zoe caught her other arm. "I wish she had sex more," she muttered viciously.

Zoe and Kaylee looked at each other in complete surprise. "I don't think anyone's ever said that about their mama… _ever_," Kaylee said both oddly amused and repulsed.

"And certainly not in that tone," Zoe agreed.

"She'd be better at blocking it," she explained, twitching slightly. "You don't see Mama stumbling about like she's lost all control, do you?"

"Not anymore, anyway," Zoe said with a smirk.

"Because _I_ know how to control myself," Meadow said rather patronizingly. "Besides, I have the good courtesy not to have good sex in the middle of the afternoon!" She closed her eyes, shivered a bit again, and muttered, "_Really_ good sex."

"You sayin' you have lots o' bad sex in the afternoon?" Zoe inquired dryly.


	34. Popsicle

Mal was sitting alone on the bridge one night, looking out into the black, think on his problems of the present, when Meadow stopped by his knee. She looked at him a moment, looked out the front of the ship, and then climbed up onto his knee. She perched there, her hair a mass of curls, looking like a little doll in the white frilled nightdress Inara had dressed her in, and with her hand folded in her lap watched the black with him.

After a good while, she scooted back into his lap and rested her head against his chest. Mal petted her a bit as they sat there.

She sighed after another good while and then asked sweetly, "Popsicle?"

"Shen me?"

"Nana said that I need playmates," she said, her three year-old fingers fussing with the buttons on his shirt.

"That she did, gosling," he agreed, recalling Mrs. Fry's hinting at wanting Kaylee and Simon to start on more grandchildren in ways that were the complete opposite of subtle.

"And I do get terribly lonely with only myself to play with."

"What's your point?" he asked her suspiciously.

"Can I have a puppy?"

"_Shen m_e?" he demanded, completely thrown.

She turned up to face him, her little hands clasped entreatingly. "Oh please? Just one little puppy- I'll feed him and clean him and I'll take very good care of him and I promise I'll never ask you for anything else, _never ever_!"

"A puppy ain't a little thing!" he protested.

"Sure it is, that's why it's a puppy."

"But they don't _stay_ little," he sarcasm leaking into his voice a bit.

"I don't either," she said, matching his tone perfectly. "I even know what kind I want and what I'll name him. I can teach him all sorts of really shiny tricks and how to be a good watch dog for when we're dirtside, and he can sleep in my bed with me, and I'll even give him all of my protein."

"I don't care if ya don't like protein- ya still gotta eat it," he said sternly, accidentally slipping from one argument to another.

"But he needs it, his a growing dog."

"Ya don't got a dog!"

"Well, not yet," she acquiesced. She laid her head sweetly on his shoulder and said, "I was gonna name him Popsicle, after you."

He just barely managed not to smile at the complete, sincere sweetness being directed at him. "Ya still ain't gettin' a dog."

She jumped off his lap, stamped her bare little foot and angrily said, "You're as mean as Uncle Simon!"

"That ain't gonna make me change my mind this time," he told her sternly.

"I never get anything I want!" she yelled dramatically then ran out of the bridge.

"Well, that sure as hell ain't true," he muttered to himself as Meadow's calls for her Niang reverberated through the whole ship.

----

Shen me - what

Niang - another word for mother in Chinese


	35. Niang

It was a very trying morning aboard Serenity.

They were dirtside and a sudden storm late the previous afternoon had forced most of the crew to take shelter in town. So with Kaylee unexpectedly away for the night, Simon was already on edge.

Added to that, River was having a bad day. And it had started very early. She wasn't near to doing harm to anyone but she was behaving a bit erratically, and it seemed her mood was affecting her daughter. The normally happy eighteen month old was fussy and couldn't be consoled. Simon and Mal fighting over what was best for her with her mother out of sorts only made it worse, and so she pushed them away while declaring, screaming, snapping, and howling her first word - _no_.

Simon felt two things about this. It was his niece's first word and she very clearly knew it's meaning and when to use it- very impressive. He had always figured his niece was just choosing not to speak, being so bright and perfectly able to communicate otherwise. But his overwhelming first feeling was longing that she would never utter another word again.

After tiring of fighting with both the toddler and her mother, Mal stalked off to the bridge and Simon let them both be, allowing River to hide away somewhere in the ship where no one was after her with needles and Meadow to sit in the middle of the lounge - he watched her from the couch, he was annoyed not an idiot.

After an hour of sitting, Meadow hoisted herself to her feet and toddled over to the coffee table. She saw Simon watching her and she wrinkled her face at him as she grabbed a book out of the pile of colorful story books Kaylee kept there. She the returned precisely to the spot she'd been sitting before, her back almost decidedly toward Simon.

"Girls are back," Mal said, not long before they heard them in the hold, pulling their purchases off the mule.

"Hey there, bao bei!" Kalyee cooed, then looking curiously at Simon when the girl didn't so much as look up.

"River's in a mood… and so is Meadow," he said tiredly.

"Poor little girl," Kaylee said sympathetically, not noticing the strangled looks that briefly passed over both Simon and Mal's faces. "I'm gonna help Nara with her things, then I'll show ya what I bought," she said, winking at Simon. He only raised an eyebrow at her, which made her giggle as she disappeared on her way to Inara's shuttle.

Simon sighed, his hope that Kaylee and Inara being back would brighten up Meadow at least a little now crushed.

"Hey, you get those things I asked ya?" Mal called out, not waiting for Zoe to actually appear.

"You askin' 'cause I'm so untrustworthy, sir?" Zoe demanded a bit of smile in her voice.

The second Zoe appeared at the top of the stairs, Meadow smiled and raised her arms up, happily ordering, "Niang, up!" She scooped the baby up and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. She wrapped her arms around Zoe's neck and snuggled down like there had been no one else to be nice to her all day. Zoe shifted the weight of the groceries in her free hand and made her way back to the kitchen.

Mal looked over at Simon and asked, "Do you kinda hate her right now?"

"That's ridiculous, she's my niece, I love her," he replied with very little inflection. They looked over their shoulders as they heard Meadow clap her little hands and happily call out, "Bao!" And Simon added, "Of course I'm sure she'd do very well if we left her with some family in town for a few weeks."


	36. Skipped

It had taken a good few years but Mal had managed to chase away another pilot. Unfounded personal attacks did it this time. And out of spite due to the personal goings-on of the folks aboard his ship, he decided they just wouldn't hire on a new one.

River filled in well. She was always perfectly calm and almost nearly in control while she was at the helm, but as time went by she became more erratic during the times she wasn't steering Serenity. Simon finally put a limit on how much time River could be left to piloting the ship.

By that time, matters had settled some and Mal was willing to allow another being onto his ship to spend more than just the time of a fare. It was serendipity the next dirt bowl of a world they set down on happened to be the stopping point of their last actual pilot. They caught up over drinks and after Mal expressed something that could have been an apology, Les agreed to pilot Serenity once again.

There was no formal announcement to the rest of the crew when they got back, Les just took his old bunk and headed to clean up while Mal went to put down supplies. The overly casual passing comment was seen as almost rude by Kaylee who promptly set about planning a welcome back dinner while Meadow slipped away amidst the talking.

In her usual way, Meadow managed to corner him on his way out of the shower. She was just going to welcome him back; he was an old friend and good company to have. But…

He was far more delicious than she remembered.

It had started with their usual flirting near the shower with Les in nothing but a towel. Then a quick welcome back peck became a slightly longer welcome back kiss, and from there it was a rapid progression that ended abruptly when Inara cleared her throat loudly (for the third time) on finding her niece pinned against the wall with her legs wrapped around the nearly naked, newly returned pilot.

Inara glared at Meadow the entire times it took them to carefully disentangle themselves from each other – which seemed to be deliberately slow – and then waited her out silently as she watched him make his way to his bunk. Only when he was out of view did she finally meet her eyes, and the glare held a moment then turned into a more exasperated, "What if I had been one of the men?"

Having the good sense to look at least mildly repentant at her behavior, Meadow lowered her head as she shuffled past her miffed aunt. Inara watched, glaring the whole time, hands steadfastly on hips, and the girl kept this posture for the rough thirty seconds it took her to get to the doorway after which she skipped off merrily towards the hold.

Surprised by the formerly common behavior, a smile lit up Inara's face. Meadow hadn't skipped at all in the months since Nate left. Laodetien! She hadn't skipped in _months_! Smile suddenly gone from her face, she hurried to find the others so they would be prepared when the inevitable storm came crashing down on them.

The women were alone in the kitchen having a quiet lunch when Inara found them. Just as she opened her mouth to alert them of the situation, Mal came in off the bridge, and she busied herself with making tea. River looked up from the cookies she had been making dance around the table, and after a moment of contemplation set them nicely back on their plate.

"It does feel all manner o' good to have a full crew again," he proclaimed, sweeping up behind Inara and wrapping his arms around her waist. "And to have back an old friend. Can't remember why he left in the first place."

Zoe snorted. "You'd be the only one, then, sir."

"Yeah, it's real shiny, just don't go chasin' him off again," Kaylee warned, gesturing at him with her empty cup. "Accusin' him of gettin' up to fun with Meadi and the like!"

"Well, the girl's got no morals or shame!" he snapped, still uncomfortable with the long-known fact. He moved back and Inara went and took a seat at the table. "And she _was_ misbehavin' at the time, you'll recall."

"Yeah, an' she never got caught 'til she wanted to," Kaylee muttered with a slight smirk. Inara choked slightly on her tea and set the cup down a bit harder than intended. Kaylee gave her a look then added, "'Cept that one time Jayne found her in the alley."

"Yeah, and she snuck around this gorram ship near two years with a man near seven years older'n she was!" Mal reminded her. "In case you forgot – weren't that long ago!"

"I don't think I like where your wild ramblings are heading," Inara broke in. She really didn't need him making outrageous though accurate conjectures on Meadow's private activities. "Putting aside the fact that you don't like that your little girl has grown up, Kaylee's right. Don't go chasing off the pilot _again_. He's crew; we've missed him."

"He won't get chased off again," River spoke up certainly. "Has something keeping him here this time." For the past week, River had been in a mood that left them ignoring what came out of her mouth, but Zoe heard a bit more sense in her tone and paused.

Kaylee shook her head. "Well, I got a compression coil needs seen too. River, wanna help?" River considered it a moment then nodded and stood to go with her.

Inara tensed, wanting to stop them but knowing Mal never let it alone if she tried to ask for a private word. Mal sat down with them and she suppressed a sigh. It was news that would keep and wasn't a time sensitive issue at this point… she hoped. She pushed that type of thought away – Meadow wasn't the type to get caught doing something twice. She discussed their nest stop with Mal and Zoe a few minutes before Jayne minor problem that demanded all sorts of attention and he was finally off.

Zoe and Inara remained at the table, quietly finishing their tea. "You catch Les and Meadow just now?" Zoe guessed.

"Yep," she confirmed simply.

"She doesn't waste much time, does she?" Zoe observed in amusement.

They were quiet another moment and Inara said, "She skipped."

"Oh, crap," was all Zoe could think of to say to that.

/

I actually wrote this a few weeks ago and forgot what I did with the file. But I found it and wrote a beginning. Can't promise the muse to strike again any time soon but enjoy what it provided!


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